The highest antioxidant loss was observed in cauliflower after boiling and microwaving, peas after boiling, and zucchini after boiling and frying. Green beans, beets and garlic kept their antioxidant levels after most cooking treatments. Vegetables that increased their antioxidant levels after all cooking methods were green beans (except green beans after boiling), celery and carrots. Artichoke was the only vegetable that kept its high antioxidant level during all the cooking methods.

The study group consisted of 25 newborns with ALRI who were admitted to neonatal intensive care unit and their mothers. Controls were 15 healthy newborns of the same age as the study group and their mothers. The two groups were similar in gestational week, birth weight, birth height, head circumference, age and gender.

The mean of serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations in the study group newborns were lower than those of the control group (9.128.88ng/ml and 16.3313.42 ng/ml, respectively) (P=0.011). Also, mean serum 25(OH)D concentrations in the mothers of the study group were lower than those in the mothers of the control group (13.3816.81 ng/ml and 22.7916.93 ng/ml respectively) (P=0.012). In 87.5 percent of all newborns and 67.5 percent of all mothers, serum 25(OH)D concentrations were lower than 20 ng/ml. The 25(OH)D concentrations of newborns were highly correlated with mothers’ serum 25(OH)D concentrations.

The strong positive correlation between newborns’ and mothers’ serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D concentrations shows that adequate vitamin D supplementation of mothers should be emphasized during pregnancy especially in winter months.

The fertile soil of Californiaâ€™s Central Valley has long made it famous as the nationâ€™s breadbasket. But itâ€™s not just the soil that allows for such productivity. Crops like potatoes, dry beans, and tomatoes have long been protected from bugs and weeds by the fungicide maneb and the herbicide paraquat.

Scientists know that in animal models and cell cultures, such pesticides trigger a neurodegenerative process that leads to Parkinsonâ€™s disease. Now scientists at UCLA provide the first evidence for a similar process in humans.

In a new epidemiological study of Central Valley residents who had been diagnosed with Parkinsonâ€™s disease (PD), it was found that years of exposure to the combination of these two pesticides had increased the risk of PD by 75 percent.

Further, for people 60 years old and younger diagnosed with PD, earlier exposure had increased their risk to the disease by as much as four-to-six-fold.

Reporting in the current issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology, senior author Beate Ritz, professor of epidemiology at the UCLA School of Public Health, and first author Sadie Costello, a former doctoral student at UCLA, now at the University of California, Berkeley, found that Valley residents who lived within 500 meters of fields sprayed between the years of 1974-1999 had a 75 percent increased risk to Parkinsonâ€™s.

Further, people who were diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease at age 60 or younger were found to have been at much higher risk because they had been exposed to either maneb or paraquat alone or to both pesticides in combination, between the years 1974â€“1989, a time when they would have been children, teens, or young adults.

Here’s another example to file under the category of CSI_Health Crimes.Â No wonder parents and childrem face an uphill battle when it comes to having optimal, vibrant health.Â Read more courtesy of Nutrition Business Journal.

The public watchdog organization also used the FTC settlement news to call for Kellogg to begin removing Blue 1, Blue 2, Red 40 and other synthetic food dyes from some varieties of its Mini-Wheats products. â€œThose dyes exacerbate some childrenâ€™s hyperactivity and behavioral problems and have no place in foods aimed squarely at children,â€ CSPI said in a statement.

DM News reports that pharmaceutical companies are changing the ways they interact with physicians.Â Looking for the holy grail of a continuous marketing loop,Â they hope to better understand how physicians interact with the information being offered on web based platforms.

Due to regulations, it’s more difficult for big pharma to jump into direct to consumer social media. But physician based communities are growing.Â According to a recent report from Manhattan Research, approximately 60% of physicians are already using or considering using online social media sites for physicians. These physicians write an average of 24 more prescriptions per week than physicians with no interest in online communities.

Now even our doctors have a place to go to ask if drug “X” is right for you.